The invention relates to new and useful improvements in a medical system such as a medical treatment and/or diagnostic system. More particularly, the invention relates to a medical system having a system controller for controlling the system-specific components. The controller works together with an operating unit and is assigned a data storage unit in which it is possible to store at least one operating menu. The operating menu can be called up by means of the operating unit and displayed on a display device. The operating menu comprises a plurality of operating functions which can be selected, if appropriate, by means of a movable marker. When a particular operating function is selected its associated executable system function can be executed under control of the system controller.
Systems of this type, for example an X-ray system, are generally software-controlled multi-component systems comprising, e.g., an X-ray generator, an X-ray tube, a digital, image-amplifier-based image acquisition system, etc. In order to operate the system, menu pages are displayed to the operator on one or more suitable display devices. These menu pages reproduce the total number of stored functions and options that may be selected from this menu and whose associated system function can be executed, given appropriate selection.
The respective menu pages are predefined in terms of their functional composition and layout. That is to say, in the case of a specific menu, all the operating functions associated with that menu are always displayed. In order to be able to control the system appropriately during operation, it is therefore necessary to "leaf through" these various menus. In other words, the system forces the operator to display and select from a plurality of menu pages, e.g., in order to retrieve a desired operating function, or because the operation of a specific operating function requires display of a further submenu, reproducing a subordinate set of functions.
It is also disadvantageous that various components are often controlled via independent menus on various indicating devices, which means that, for example, the X-ray generator is controlled with its specific menus on a different display device than, for example, the digital image processor used thereafter. Thus, in addition to the added time and complexity associated with having to "leaf through" menus, the arrangement described above has an additional disadvantage in that it often is not possible for the user to operate the system from one single indicating device.